Bet on Cycling

This is the email that Floyd Landis sent to USA Cycling admitting his doping guilt, as well as accusing Lance Armstrong, George Hincapie, David Zabriskie, Levi Leipheimer, and many more.

2002: I was instructed on how to use Testosterone patches by Johan Bruyneel during the During the Dauphine Libere in June, after which I flew on a helicopter with Mr Armstrong from the finish, I believe Grenoble, to San Mauritz Switzerland at which point I was personally handed a box of 2.5
mg patches in front of his wife who witnessed the exchange. About a week later, Dr Ferrari performed an extraction of half a liter of blood to be transfused back into me during the Tour de France. Mr Armstrong was not witness to the extraction but he and I had lengthy discussions about it on our training rides during which time he also explained to me the evolution of EPO testing and how transfusions were now necessary due to the inconvenience of the new test. He also divulged to me at that timethat in the first year that the EPO test was used he had been told by Mr
Ferrari, who had access to the new test, that he should not use EPO anymore but
he did not believe Mr Farrari and contin ued to use it. He later, while winning the Tour de Swiss, the month before the Tour de France, tested positive for EPO at which point he and Mr Bruyneel flew to the UCI headquarters and made a financial agreement with Mr. Vrubrugen to keep the positive test hidden.

2003: After a broken hip in the winter, I flew to Gerona Spain where this time two units (half a liter each) were extracted three weeks apart. This took place in the apartment in which Mr. Armstrong lived and in which I was asked to stay and check the blood temperature every day. It was kept
in a small refrigerator in the closet allong with the blood of Mr Armstrong and George Hincapie and since Mr. Armstrong was planning on being gone for a few weeks to train he asked me to stay in his place and make sure the electricity didn’t turn off or something go wrong with the referigerator.
Then during the Tour de France the entire team, on two different occasions went to the room that we were told and the doctor met us there to do the transfusions. During that Tour de France I personally witnessed George Hincapie, Lance Armstrong, Chechu Rubiera, and myself receiving blood transfusions. Also during that Tour de France the team doctor would give my room mate, George Hincapie and I a small syringe of olive oil in which was disolved andriol, a form
of ingestible testosterone on two out of three nights throughout the duration.

I was asked to ride the Vuelta a Espana that year in support of Roberto Heras and in August, between the Tour and the Vuelta, was told to take EPO to raise my hematocrit back up so more blood transfusions could be performed. I was instructed to go to Lances place by Johan Bruyneel
and get some EPO from him. The first EPO I ever used was then handed to me in the entry way to his building in full view of his then wife. It was Eprex by brand and it came in six pre measured syringes. I used it intravenously forseveral weeks before the next blood draw and had no problems with the tests during the Vuelta. Also during this time it was explained to me how to
use Human Growth Hormone by Johan Bruyneel and I bought what I needed from Pepe the team “trainer” who lived in Valencia along with the team doctor at that time. While training for that Vuelta I spent a good deal of time training with Matthew White and Michael Barry and shared the testosterone and EPO that we had and discussed the use thereof while training.

Again, during the Vuelta we were given Andriol and blood transfusions by the team doctor and had no problems with any testing.

2004: Again the team performed two seperate blood transfusions on me, but this time Bruyneel had become more paranoid and we did the draws by flying to Belgium and meeting at an unknown persons appartment and the blood was brought by “Duffy” who was at that time Johans assistant of sorts. The second of which was performed on the team bus on the ride from the finish of a stage to the hotel during which the driver pretended to have engine trouble and stopped on a remote mountain road for an hour or so so the entire team could have half a liter of blood added. This was the only time that I ever saw the entire team being transfused in plain view of all the other riders and bus driver. That team included Lance Armstrong, George Hincapie and I as the only Americans.

2005: I had learned at this point how to do most of the transfusion technicals and other things on my own so I hired Allen Lim as my assistant to help with details and logistics. He helped Levi Leipheimer and I prepare the transfusions for Levi and I and made sure they were kept at the proper temperature. We both did two seperate transfusions that Tour however my hematocrit was too low at the start so I did my first one a few days before the start so as to not start with a deficit.

2006: Well you get the idea……. One thing of great signigicance is that I sat down with Andy Riis and explained to him what was done in the past and what was the risk I would be taking and ask for his permission which he granted in the form of funds to complete the operation described. John
Lelangue was also informed by me and Andy Riis consulted with Jim Ochowitz before agreeing.

There are many many more details that I have in diaries and am in the process of writing into an intelligible story but since the position of USA Cycling is that there have not been enough details shared to justify calling USADA, I am writing as many as I can reasonably put into an email and
share with you so as to ascertain what is the process which USA Cycling uses to proceed with such allegations.

Look forward to much more detail as soon as you can demonstrate that you can be trusted to do the right thing.

Floyd Landis

Francesco Chicchi heeft de vierde rit in de Ronde van Californië gewonnen. De voor Liquigas koersende Italiaan was in de 195 km lange rit van San José naar Modesto de snelste in de massasprint. Theo Bos (Cervelo) eindigde als vierde.

The Amgen Tour of California returns to Visalia for the start of stage 5, a stage that will take the riders through the heart of the San Joaquin Valley and into the foothills of the Sierra Nevada.

It’s a stage that Andrew Messick, president of race owner AEG Sports, predicted could have an impact on the general classification should an overall favorite attack on the 10-percent China Grade climb during the finishing circuits.

“If one of the GC guys decides to launch at the bottom, they could take six or seven seconds at the line,” Messick said.

After departing Visalia, the race heads due south through the towns of Exeter and Lindsay. Just south of Porterville, the route heads further inland and tackles the narrow and twisty category 3 climb over Old Stage Road into the town of Woody. Though a long, steep climb, it tops out a full 60 miles from the finish.

Continuing on to Bakersfield, the route heads into the Kern River oil field, the fifth largest in the United States, where the riders will encounter several short, steep climbs, including the category 4 Round Mountain Road.

From atop the final climb,, China Grade, the cyclists will be able to look down onto the finish at Bakersfield College. The peloton will encounter the 10-percent climb up China Grade twice more over a pair of finishing circuits in Bakersfield.

Prior to this year’s Amgen Tour of California, VeloNews sat down with five riders for a stage-by-stage breakdown. Those riders — Levi Leipheimer, Dave Zabriskie, Ben Day, Mike Friedman and Rory Sutherland — form an expert panel VeloNews.com is referring to all week for insider analysis. Here’s what they had to say:

Levi Leipheimer (USA), RadioShack:
You have two laps, three times up the final climb. I’ve seen it; I don’t know if it’s 10 percent, I don’t think it’s quite that steep. But it’s not just a little bump. Can a sprinter win? Of course. But there will be guys who have no interest in sprinting or GC and they’re going to get dropped. They’re going to sit up, and gaps are going to open. I’ve seen it; it’s a wide road, two lanes with big shoulders, so not too bad fighting for position. I think it will go smoothly. It’s always possible a GC rider could attack, but I think a few teams will be setting the pace pretty high to set up for the stage win.

Dave Zabriskie (USA), Garmin-Transitions:
Circuits, they are always intense, you have to be at the front, especially with a 10-percent climb going into it. Gaps can open up. You just hope that it’s a decent road. A 10-percent road that’s a single-lane is much different than a 10-percent road that’s four lanes. A single-lane is much more stressful to fight people for the front. There will be those that fought for position that can’t hold the wheels, they’ll do a little blow up, and that will open more gaps. If it’s a bigger road, there won’t be that much stress.

Rory Sutherland (Australia), UnitedHealthcare-Maxxis:
I went and did a little bit of recon on that one, because it wasn’t that far north, we could go up from one of the races we were doing in southern California and have a look. It’s a beautiful stage, it steps into the Sierras. We were there in January so the weather wasn’t fantastic. There’s a pretty decent climb in the middle of the stage. To start off with it can be a bit cross-windy through the valley. It goes up over this climb and then you descend for something like 50km, but it seems to be a gradual descent rather than a hairpin, crazy descent. You think it’s going to be a sprinter’s stage, but I’m betting against that. It has a pretty hard little circuit at the end, it actually reminds me a lot of stages of the Tour of Georgia. You have those big, long, open stages with big roads and then with 10k to go it goes down to one lane and you have steep climbs and corners. That makes it super exciting; it means the GC guys are going to have to really be on their toes to be in position, and it means that the guys who have a little punch at the end, and can climb decently, can have a really good opportunity. What kind of rider would be good in a finish like that? It’s definitely like a Hincapie, or a perfect example would be a Valverde or a Kim Kirchen, or hopefully myself. If you can just get over that climb in a good group and in good position, and have a little power at the end, then you should be able to run a pretty good place in that finish.

Mike Friedman (USA), Jelly Belly:

Everyone will position themselves before the climb; there will be a breakaway that goes, there always is. It’s going to be a mad dash to the top of the first climb, then a mad dash to the finish. But it’s sixty miles to the finish from the top of that climb. Some of these climbs are so early on that it won’t really effect what the outcome of the race is. If the climb was later in the race it would really effect it. It also depends how long the climb is, and the grade, but with sixty miles to the finish line not much is going to change regardless. Even if it’s split by five minutes, if the front field isn’t drilling it the grupetto is going to get back on. That’s just the way it is. But if some GC guys are in the grupetto, or really suffering that day, that could also change a lot.

Ben Day (Australia), Fly V Australia:
I foresee the stage being another day for the sprinters, except it’s going to suit a different type of sprinter. Looking at the profile, it looks fairly flat compared to some of the other stages. There’s a long climb in the middle, fairly gradual, and the road isn’t the best so it’s going to be important to keep good position and stay safe through that area. It’s a long, downhill run into the finish, but then once we get into the finish itself, into Bakersfield, there’s a circuit there that’s really, really tough. I think some of the heavy sprinters may really suffer through there, and the GC guys are going to have to be very attentive to make sure they’re right near the front, and make sure they don’t let any splits form in the group. That could finish the race for one of the GC guys. For us, it could be a great race for someone like Charles Dionne or Bernard Sulzberger, John Cantwell, you never know who’s going really well. We’re just going to have to see how that circuit really plays out. It’s going to be a sprint finish, but it’s going to be a different type of sprinter that wins this stage. For a little guy, somebody who has great anaerobic capacity but isn’t a sprinter and doesn’t have that really powerful acceleration, it’s hard to stay on the wheel. Those guys are punching it so hard, and there are such completely different types of athletes, you need to be very attentive and make sure you’re in a good position and make sure you have a little bit of room to fall back. If you’re on the end of the bunch, you’re in trouble. Plus you’ll have some lead-out guys you have to work your way around as well. It’s going to be very important to be aggressive and stay near the front.

Dave Zabriskie (Garmin-Transitions) scored a dramatic stage win ahead of Levi Leipheimer (RadioShack) and Mick Rogers (HTC-Columbia) on Tuesday’s third stage of the Amgen Tour of California, the 113.3-mile leg from San Francisco to Santa Cruz.

The three overall favorites broke away together on the critical Bonny Doon climb outside Santa Cruz, gaining a maximum advantage of 90 seconds, before a hungry chase group closed to within a handful of seconds.

Zabriskie, the reigning national time trial champion, attacked the others with less than a kilometer to go and held them off, taking the win and a 10-second bonus that put him into the overall lead, displacing overnight leader Brett Lancaster (Cervélo TestTeam).

Leipheimer said he fumbled the finish, which featured a lefthand corner at about 800 meters to go.

“I definitely screwed up the finish. I knew about this corner, but Dave got the jump on us, and there was a tailwind there,” Leipheimer said.

Leipheimer, who initiated the critical split up Bonny Doon, was similarly lukewarm about the results.

“Once we got away I wasn’t really committed because they’re the two most dangerous guys in the race,” Leipheimer said. “We were gaining time on everyone else, but that wasn’t really what my goal was. In fact I ended up losing a little bit of time because of the bonuses.”

Zabriskie, on the other hand, was pleased with the yellow result he got to zip on at day’s end, plus the form that put him there.

“The feelings I had (on Bonny Doon) were good feelings,” Zabriskie said. “It was the first time I’ve been able to go that deep this season.”

Coastal breakers

The day got going down the coast in beautiful conditions. Despite the best efforts of dozens of riders to get clear, the pack stayed together past the day’s first two intermediate sprints. HTC-Columbia set up their man Mark Cavendish to win the first and reclaim the points lead from Lancaster — ”It’s good practice for the Tour,” Cav said — and Karl Menzies (UnitedHealthcare-Maxxis) took the second.

As the riders turned off the coastal highway to head inland, a break of five riders went. The race leader pulled over for a nature stop, thereby granting the break clearance for takeoff. As on Monday, the break was composed of non-ProTour riders, including local Andy Jacques-Maynes of Bissell:

• Ryan Anderson (Kelly Benefit Systems), 41st at 1:27
• Davide Frattini (Team Type 1), 48th at 2:57
• Will Routley (Jelly Belly), 49th at 2:57
• Eric Boily (SpiderTech), 102nd at 17:30
• Jacques-Maynes, 106th at 17:30

Frattini and Anderson battled for the KOM points throughout the day; Frattini took the first two, and Anderson the third. The break built a lead of over four minutes, giving Anderson the honor of being the race leader on the road.

RadioShack led the field in a chase, keeping the break within a comfortable margin of two to three minutes.

As the race shot back onto the coastal highway and headed toward Bonny Doon, RadioShack and Lancaster’s Cervélo team ratcheted up the pace. While his breakaway companions began to resign to the inevitable, Routley launched an attack that held for a few miles.

Then it was time for ProTour business.

RadioShack’s Chris Horner took a big dig on the early slopes, marked by most of the GC favorites, including Rogers and Zabriskie.

After Horner softened up the group, Leipheimer attacked, bringing Rogers and Zabriskie.

In a pre-race interview, Leipheimer named the two as among his biggest challengers to his overall title defense.

Now the defending champion had the two with him, opening a 20-second gap on the climb that grew to over a minute as RadioShack’s Lance Armstrong and Garmin’s Tom Danielson marked any attempt to bridge.

“Everybody was for a second in the red when they went,” said Saxo Bank’s Jens Voigt. “Then it was stop and go. There was still a large number of RadioShack riders in the chase group. I have to say they controlled the race pretty well. There were 3 or 4 guys in our group. And they were controlling everything behind.”

Leipheimer led the trio over the summit of Bonny Doon with a 90-second gap over the chasers.

After the descent, the chase became furious as Cervélo and Liquigas — home of the first and second place riders on GC — fought to get their men back in the game, as the race’s three most dangerous riders went up the road.

The lead trio — containing a former time trial world champion (Rogers), the reigning U.S. TT champion (Zabriskie) and a former U.S. TT champion (Leipheimer) — worked well together, but so did Liquigas at the front of the chase, and with less than 9 miles to go, it was touch-and-go, with the gap down to 55 seconds.

One Liquigas rider flatted out of the chase, giving the lead trio enough advantage to keep the gap at a half minute at 10km. The three were not giving up, although Rogers appeared to be weakening in the final Ks. With 2km to go, the trio had just 20 seconds.

Zabriskie launched an attack at 800 meters to go and Leipheimer was first to respond, but Rogers drag-raced him to the line to take second and a 6-second bonus. Leipheimer had to settle for the 4-second third place bonus.

Liquigas’ Peter Sagan, who had been second on GC behind Lancaster, led the field in for fourth at 17 seconds.

Up next

Wednesday’s stage 4 from San Jose to Modesto is almost a carbon copy of the 2009 stage between the same two cities won by Thor Hushovd in a mass sprint finish. The 195.5km route includes the rugged Sierra Road climb and a grind up the narrow, twisting Mines Road to almost 3,000 feet elevation before descending to the Central Valley and the flat finale. (Related: 2010 Tour of California route).

Complete results

Quick results

Stage results

• 1. Zabriskie
• 2. Rogers
• 3. Leipheimer
• 4. Peter Sagan (Liquigas) at 17s

GC standings

• 1. Zabriskie
• 2. Rogers at 4s
• 3. Leipheimer at 6s

San Luis Obispo, CA – 17th May 2010 – HTC-Columbia’s Ina-Yoko Teutenberg battled through galeforce winds on stage three of the Tour de L’Aude in France to take her twelfth triumph of the season and nineteenth career victory in the race, while teammate Adrie Visser remains in the overall lead.

“I was actually pretty annoyed before the stage started because I’d ridden a poor team time trial the day before, and so I worked hard to forge an early break with three other riders,” Teutenberg said later. “The only problem was it was really windy today. It was blowing at maybe 50 or 60 kmh and we were riding mostly into a headwind. It was crazy. Normally you get one windy day in the Tour de L’Aude, but this time it just hasn’t stopped and this was the worst of the race so far.”

Teutenberg said the break had survived because of strong collaboration, but that it had been a very tough struggle with their advantage at a bare minimum at the finish.
“Cervélo were working very hard behind and after losing one person from the break, we reached the finish with only about 20 seconds on the bunch. It wasn’t much of a gap but we kept working together and we were totally exhausted when it was over. The final sprint was really close at first, but I was able to put some distance between me and the rest of the break at the end. It really made up for what had happened the day before.”

Teutenberg’s win was her nineteenth in the Tour de L’Aude, reinforcing her position as the rider with the greatest number of stage victories ever in the prestigious French race. “It was a really hard day,” added Teutenberg’s HTC-Columbia team-mate Adrie Visser, “but this is my first ever lead in a stage race and it’s really nice to look down and see I’m wearing a yellow jersey. The stage had a really tough start, and later on Cervélo started to chase. But I had a good spot in the bunch and I could hold on ok. Tomorrow [Tuesday] is a lot more mountainous and we’re more here for stage wins than winning the overall, but I won’t let go of the lead without a fight. Whatever happens I won’t forget leading this race, either.”

Teutenberg’s victory is the third for HTC-Columbia in less than 24 hours, following Mark Cavendish’s win in the first stage of the Tour of California and Matt Goss’s victory in the Giro d’Italia.

For more information on Team HTC-Columbia, please visit www.highroadsports.com

About HTC
HTC Corporation (HTC) is one of the fastest growing companies in the mobile phone industry and continues to pioneer industry-leading mobile experiences through design, usability and innovation that is sparked by how the mobile phone can improve how people live and communicate. For more information about HTC, please visit www.htc.com.

Almenno San Bartolomeo (BG) (16/5) ? Colpo doppio della De Nardi Daigo Bergamasca nello scorso week end. Dopo la vittoria di Andrea Di Corrado nell'Eco del Chisone di sabato, è Paolo Locatelli a festeggiare la domenica vincendo l'8° Memorial A. Ripamonti con uno supersprint a Pallazzago ...continua
Monday, May 17, 2010